Emphasis on joint operations in counterfeit currency cases

Additional Director General of Police (Crime Branch CID) Archana Ramasundaram on Tuesday called for joint operations in respect of counterfeit currency cases that had inter-State ramifications.

Interacting with top intelligence and bank officials at the Tamil Nadu Police Academy here, she stressed the need for a better database of counterfeit currency cases and improving the network between police and other departments such as the Reserve bank of India (RBI), Customs, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Enforcement Directorate.

Mrs. Ramasundaram appealed to the RBI to conduct more in-house research of trends and patterns of counterfeit currency complaints. Installation of Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) was imperative in ATMs as there were instances of fake currency notes finding their way into the machines.

She said the course content of the training programme being imparted by the agency on “Detection and investigation of Counterfeit Currency notes/Fake Indian Currency Notes” to officers of various departments was being upgraded constantly. Officials from the National Investigation Agency and State Intelligence also participated.

RBI alert

In a related development, the RBI recently issued a circular to all public sector, private sector and foreign banks in the country that the Anti-Terrorist Squad in Mumbai had seized 345 counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 1,000 denomination in the 2AQ and 8AC series. The seizure was made from four persons belonging to Jharkhand and West Bengal.

This was the first time that counterfeiting of higher denomination notes with new/strengthened security features such as optically variable ink and colour shift security thread had come to the notice of the RBI. “The first visual impact was very much akin to the genuine note. We request you to alert staff handling cash at all your branches and ensure the use of note sorting machines compulsorily,” RBI General Manager Ajay Michyari said in the circular.

The Chennai Police had also seized counterfeit currency notes of Rs. 1,000 denomination from some natives of Jharkhand recently. Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran said investigators were working with the Jharkhand police in investigating the source and supply network of the fake currency notes.